Bottom loading in-line crop baler

Abstract

The baler uses a single stuffer assembly to take crop materials from the center gathering augers of the windrow pickup and sweep such materials upwardly and rearwardly through a loading duct into the baling chamber via an opening in the bottom of the latter. A single set of side-by-side crop engaging forks of the stuffer assembly moves through a generally kidney shaped path of travel that includes extending the forks forward of the deposit zone, plunging the tips of the forks down to the deposit zone between the augers at a point forwardly of the mouth of the duct, sweeping rearwardly and upwardly thereafter through the remainder of the duct along the lower stretch path of fork travel, and the returning downwardly and forwardly along the upper stretch of the path of fork travel to the deposit zone. Such forks are able to extend forward of the deposit zone by positioning the augers, the deposit zone and the mouth of the duct back underneath the axis of rotation of the rotary drive of the forks.

I claim: 
     
       1. A crop baler comprising: a generally horizontally disposed baling chamber extending in a fore-and-aft direction with respect to the path of travel of the baler;   a plunger mounted for reciprocation within said chamber in said fore-and-aft direction,   said chamber having an entrance opening in a lower wall thereof over which said plunger passes during said reciprocation;   a tubular loading duct depending from said chamber with its upper end in direct communication with said opening and having a length which is at least as great as the vertical dimension of said chamber.   said duct curving downwardly and forwardly from said opening, having a longitudinally slotted top wall and terminating in a forwardmost end defining an open, crop-receiving mouth;   apparatus forwardly of said duct for picking up crop material from the ground as the baler moves along said path of travel;   conveying means adapted to receive picked up crop materials in locations laterally outboard of the opposite lateral confines of said mouth and to converge the same inwardly to a point aligned fore-and-aft with the mouth,   said conveying means including a pair of axially aligned and axially spaced augers rotatable about a common transverse axis and presenting inner ends disposed adjacent said opposite confines of the mouth to define a deposit zone immediately in front of the mouth; and   a stuffer assembly directly above said augers and operable to load the baling chamber with successive charges of crop materials from said mouth of the duct in timed relation to reciprocation of the plunger,   said stuffer assembly including a fork, a continuously rotating drive shaft positioned beneath said baling chamber, a crank arm on said drive shaft pivotally coupled with the fork for driving the latter, and control structure connected to the fork in a manner to cause a crop-engaging tip of the fork to move through the duct in a generally kidney-shaped path of travel during each stuffing cycle of the fork,   said axis of rotation of the augers, said deposit zone and said mouth of the duct being positioned back underneath said drive shaft in generally vertical alignment therewith such that the tip of the fork initially plunges down to the deposit zone at a point forwardly of the mouth of the duct, sweeps rearwardly and upwardly thereafter through the remainder of the duct along the lower stretch of its path of travel and to a location above said drive shaft, and then returns downwardly and forwardly along the upper stretch of its path of travel to the deposit zone.   
     
     
       2. The baler as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said augers is rotatable in such a direction that it conveys materials along the top thereof. 
     
     
       3. A crop baler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the path of travel of the tip of the fork loops forwardly around the axis of the augers such that the tip of the fork extends forward of the deposit zone immediately prior to plunging down to the deposit zone. 
     
     
       4. A crop baler as claimed in claim 3, wherein the path of travel of the tip of the fork projects a short distance up into the baling chamber such that the plunger wipes the charge off the fork during rearward movement of the plunger. 
     
     
       5. A crop baler as claimed in claim 1, wherein the path of travel of the tip of the fork projects a short distance up into the baling chamber such that the plunger wipes the charge off the fork during rearward movement of the plunger. 
     
     
       6. A crop baler as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control structure includes a link having one end pivotally connected to said fork for movement with the fork during operation of the latter and an opposite end pivotally anchored to the baler against such movement, said opposite, anchored end of the link being disposed above said drive shaft and rearwardly thereof with respect to the normal direction of travel of the baler. 
     
     
       7. A crop baler as claimed in claim 6, wherein the path of travel of the tip of the fork loops forwardly around the axis of the augers such that the tip of the fork extends forward of the deposit zone immediately prior to plunging down to the deposit zone. 
     
     
       8. A crop baler as claimed in claim 7, wherein the path of travel of the tip of the fork projects a short distance up into the baling chamber such that the plunger wipes the charge off the fork during rearward movement of the plunger.